


Give a Heart to a Beast

by GeoffsEightGreatestMistakes



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Beast!Ryan, M/M, Magic, Multi, Slow Build, modern day beauty and the beast, supernatual people, tags will be updated as story goes on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-25
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-22 13:57:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2510246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeoffsEightGreatestMistakes/pseuds/GeoffsEightGreatestMistakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the forests outside of Auestein, there was a home. A mansion more like it, it was extravagant and beautiful, even when it was decades old and looked to be in terrible shape. This mansion held a beast, a man turned monster and his friends from when he was mortal, trapped in this home waiting for the day the beast grew a heart. How he would grow a heart? No one knew… But the beast’s heart was waiting in the hands of a young man.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(A/N: This is modern day beauty and the beast- there's a big amount of weird things I've added to add my own spin on an old fairytale. But I hope you like it- I tried a lot and I'm really happy with how I'm writing it c:)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I’m so smooth- Auestein is a play of Austin… I’M SO SMART! Not really- I just couldn’t think of a village name… BUT ENJOY THE NEW STORY I’M PROBABLY NEVER EVER GOING TO COMPLETE!

As long as anyone could remember, the forests outside of Auestein held a house. That house has been there for ages, no one remembers it being built, no one remembers who the owner was or when it was lived in. All anybody ever knew was that no one ever went in or came out, the fence around the property was rusted but it was still standing, and the large, iron gate had no lock, but it wouldn’t ever open.

No one came in, or came out… Sometimes, people dared each other to go in, but they always ended up chickening out, or going up, and coming back days later, shaking and terrified; even though they didn’t step foot on the property. There was even one girl, she went in, and… _poor her,_ she never came back.

The house was looming in the forest, a dirt, unpaved path led up to the edge of the woods, going deep into the trees to the house, it was the only road in town that wasn’t paved. No one in Auestein dared step foot on that path.

This house looked empty, but it there were people inside… just _hidden_. Hidden from life and put there on purpose. They were trapped…

The house is how our story starts, back when the house was in perfect condition, and full of life… You see, this house was owned by the Haywood bloodline, built outside of Auestein when it was only a few dirt paths. It was a mystery of why such a rich family moved to such a poor area, but by now- the family’s name was long forgotten, only the house remained…

 

Our story starts with the house, but it also starts with a boy- no wait, a teenager, or maybe an adult? His maturity level certainly didn’t show his age, but he was only a handful of years out of college, only a month over 25. This man was… weird- in a way, he had a British accent like no other in Auestein, fly away hair that looked like it was never brushed, green eyes as beautiful as emeralds with specks of hazel, tanned skin that glowed year round. This man was like no one else.

This man was Gavin Free.

Gavin Free lived alone in a small one story house on the edge of town, the dirt road leading to the woods was at the end of the street, right next to his little home; the house across street abandoned- the owners had moved out in fear after hearing the stories of the path. This man liked slow motion, thousands of dollars spent on slow motion cinematography camera and used it to mess around- but he called it _science_ because he had it in slow-mo. His backyard was a mess; he didn’t exactly care for it and lit the grass on fire one too many times for the content he created.

He was even weirder about his relationships. Gavin Free had no friends in Auestein, he didn’t talk to his neighbors, and made no friends or even bothered about trying to find someone to start a family with. But he was perfectly happy about that, the only friend he did have was a man by the name of Dan Gruchy, a soldier who was on deployment that was close to him and even helped him film. He didn’t know what the neighbors were saying about him, that they were saying he was a ‘ _freak’_ , a ‘ _crazy_ _man’_ , someone who shouldn’t be there in the picture perfect suburbs of the town. He was the one neighbor that everyone had that never came outside, and when they did… they looked… _strange_.

But Gavin Free was happy- he was happy with where he lived, what he did, how he spent his time alone. He was incredibly happy.

The only thing that didn’t make him happy was the dirt path at the end of the street, visible from his bedroom window, or really, any other window in the house. That dirt path went up the hill into the trees, curving off behind the dense forest where it looked like it went on forever. He knew there was a house at the end of the path- and it intrigued him… but he never acted upon his thoughts.

Gavin Free only went on with his normal day, glancing at the dirt path through his window as he ate dinner, and as he stripped off his clothes before he went to bed at night.

He waited for something to show him a sign, it was odd, but he waited for the world to show him a sign about that house, about the path, a sign to tell him to walk up that path and see all that there was to see.

After a while, he forgot about the sign, he thought it would never come after months of waiting. But on the eve of his 26th birthday, the world gave him that sign.


	2. The Sign

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m going to get in the swing of this- the first chapter’s only short from introductions… and god I love how I wrote that...

_May 22 nd, the eve of Gavin Free’s birthday. The world had given him a sign_.

 

“Yeah Mum, I know it’s been awhile since I’ve been home.”

There was a pause.

“I know the family’s missing me- but I can’t find time to come out.”

There was another pause as his mother ate up the lie like she was starving.

“I’ll see you at Christmas; I always spend the holidays with you.”

Another pause and a sigh as his mother pestered him about coming sooner.

“Thanks for the wishes Mum, but I got to go… Yeah I’ll call you when I can. Bye Mum.”

There was a pause as Gavin waited for his mother to say her goodbyes before he hit end on his phone, tossing it onto his unmade bed. He sighed again, running his hands through his hair in slight frustration. He loved his mother- no doubt, but she pestered him about coming back to the UK to visit, and he always lied about busy.

He played video games, worked for a programming company from home, filmed with Dan when he was in town, filmed a few times alone, about once every two or three months, other than that… his schedule was wide open. He just didn’t want to pay the hundreds that would go to fly out to the UK! He licked his lips, picking his phone up again to shove it in his pocket, and with that he left the room to figure out what he’d eat for dinner.

The sun had gone down about an hour ago, the sky dark the only light in the home was from the numerous lamps Gavin owned. There was soft creaks of his feet hitting the old floorboards, leading from his bedroom, to the living room, and on into the kitchen. Gavin put his hand on the counter, the other about to open the cabinet above stove when there was a knock on the door. It was a little fast, hurried like it was important.

Gavin was confused- _how would knock on my door_?

His eyebrows furrowed, hands sliding away from the counter and cabinet. It was odd, the knock, but he decided to see who it was. As he got closer, he could hear the creaking of the wooden porch, like whoever was on the other side was leaving quickly. Gavin picked up the pace, getting to the door and opening it quickly.

The porch was empty.

He scanned the yard, also empty… but there was something on the porch, leading out into the grass- and into the street. He bent down, looking at the little yellow thing. It was a buttercup, a small little flower sitting on his front porch. The Brit’s head slowly lifted, eyes following the trail of little buttercups. The trail went up the hill, leading to the path. _But there was something else_ ; there was someone on the path… a black cloak covering their body, a brown wicker basket in their arms, bobbing a little as the figure went up the path. It looked like flowers were falling under the figure’s feet, like they were their footprints.

_This was the sign_.

Then it hit him- what he had told himself months ago. The sign he was waiting for, where he had promised himself he’d go up the hill and into the trees, following that path. Ignoring that he left his door open, or that the sun was down, he raced back into his home. Stumbling into a pair of shoes, he shoved a change of clothes into a backpack he’d thrown into his closet from when he traveled, thrusting his arms into a hoodie, grabbing a flashlight from the kitchen junk drawer and running, no, _sprinting_ back to his front door all while checking the path through every window in his home, just to make sure the flowers were still there.

The door was still wide open, there were still little buttercups. He didn’t notice that the lamps he’d left in his house suddenly turned off as he followed the yellow trail. Gavin crossed the street, looking up to see if the figure was still there, but they were gone. This time, the flowers went up the path, disappearing into the trees. The street was dark; the only streetlight was at the other end.

Gavin paused at the bottom of the hill, where the road met dirt. Blinking slowly, he turned around, looking at the buttercups leading up to his now pitch-black home, and the darkened windows of the neighbors he never met. The whole street was dark except for the streetlamp at the other end. He took a deep breath, turning around and taking the flashlight in hand. There was a little click, and a beam of light made a circle on the ground. The light covered his feet and legs as he took the one step onto the dirt.

His feet made soft thumps as he walked, up the hill right beside the buttercup trail. He took a deep breath, coming to the treeline, where the path got thinner and started to bend. The trail was still there- going off into the darkness, from where the light of the moon couldn’t touch, nor could his flashlight.

He stopped for a few seconds, thinking this whole thing over. Gavin could turn back now; he could forget the figure with the basket, and the buttercup trail. _Or_ , he could keep walking and see whatever was at the end of this path.

_Keep going_ his mind told him- and he listened. He started walking again, keeping to the path and the buttercups. The sounds of the woods were soft, like the creatures of the night had kept away from the path. Crickets in the distance, the sound of the small breeze rustling the leaves, and the thumping of his own two feet.

It was eerie, but he didn’t turn back now. The breeze of the night started to make him shake a little- he thanked himself for remembering to bring a hoodie, the thickest one he had.

The path started to widen again, leading to another bend. As Gavin walked around the bend, he saw the path split into two, curling around to form a circle, in the clearing in the dense trees. It was the home, at the end of the dirt path in the forests. He started to shake more, the buttercups coming to a stop right at his feet. He looked up, the buttercup trail had stop at the start of where the paths split to curl around into the circle.

The house was large, looming over him. There were no lights on, the door looked like it was about to fall off his hinges, the windows were foggy with dust, spider webs in the parts where it was shattered. The fence that surrounded looked rusted, but not about to fall apart, the gate looked… _clean_. It was cracked open; maybe the figure had gone in there…

Once again, Gavin thought about turning back, he stood there, the last fallen buttercup resting right beside his left foot. He could go and see where the cloaked figure went, or he could go home. The gate creaked again, opening a little bit more from an invisible force, almost as if it was welcoming Gavin to enter… Enter and never return.

His decision was made- he took a step forward, going up to the gate, leaving the buttercup trail behind. The house started to grow more and more ominous as he got closer, he came to a stop in front of the gate. A sheepish, shaking hand rose slowly, pushing the gate open. If the figure was inside, they would know they were being followed from the loud screeching the gate gave.

Gavin stepped through the gate, the house transforming before his eyes. The color of the walls grew more lively and bright under the light of the moon, the spider webs in the windows fading away as they repaired themselves and showed light from inside, the door moving back up straight, the missing floorboards of the large porch came back, the missing shingles appeared. The whole house looked alive, the gate acted like a barrier, the house looked like it was about to collapse outside, but inside it looked like it did when it was built.

The Brit stood right in front of the gate, looking across the yard, the hedges trimmed and perfect, flowers in full bloom and stunning. _Now_ , the house looked lived in- the front yard that led off to the gardens in the sides were too beautiful to be around a house in such distress. But the house wasn’t like that anymore… There were flickers of light in the windows, a shadow of something, a human shaped shadow, appeared in one of the first floor windows. They were there for only a second, before the curtain was thrown closed.

_Someone was inside…_

Gavin flicked off the flashlight with a little _click_ , the darkness of the night surrounding him once more. But the light from the windows created faint rectangles of orange on the grass, reaching out towards the fence, but not quite making it. Slowly, he took a step forward, then another, and one more before pausing. Just to see if the curtain to one of the largest downstairs windows would open again to reveal a shadow. The curtain didn’t budge.

So then he kept on walking, walking the dirt path up to the steps that led to the nice, clean porch. The wood looked like it would fall through if he stepped on it before, but now, the wood looked freshly cut, freshly put down. He hesitantly put his left foot on it, no creaks. So he continued on. Then came the door.

It was wooden; the color unknown in the dark of night, but there looked to be accents, a red sort of shade. There were no windows on the door- he couldn’t tell if someone was standing right behind it. But he did hear things moving inside, not distinct footfalls, but like things were being dragged across the floor, hissing noises, and sliding of wood against wood.

Just as about as hesitant as he was to step up onto the porch, Gavin’s hand rose to knock on the front door. The knock was heavy, sounding like it echoed within the home. There was no ‘ _I’m coming!’_ or ‘ _Just a minute!’_ , it was silent now, the sounds from inside ceasing the second he knocked. But the door cracked open a little, nobody on the other side, but a sliver of light appeared against the wood of the porch.

Gavin pushed it open slowly, waiting for whatever was inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a short chapter- I know... but I'm getting in the swing of writing full-fledged stories c:


	3. What Lays Inside

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys enjoying? Fantastic, I usually don’t get past the 3rd chapter on stories… LET’S HOPE THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN HERE! Wait- that means it did work because you’re reading this… It’s been a long day, okay?

_Gavin pushed the door open slowly, awaiting for whatever lay inside._

 

The door opened silently, no creaking with age, or whining from use, it opened silently… He took one step into the home, the lighting dim, lit by candles. The light was orange-y, sending the hall into a dull glow. He stepped in fully, the door swinging shut behind him the second his hand left the knob. Gavin jumped, squealing a little and nearly stumbling over himself to move away from the door. He backed up, going deeper into the hall as he stared at the door.

It was 10 seconds of silence before he decided to turn around, looking down the hall that led off into a large room, decorated like a living room. He made his way down the hall, only one floorboard creaking as he carefully walked. He reached the large room; two couches and a handful of armchairs were organized in front of an extremely large flat-screen TV, every gaming console Gavin could think of, and there were two wooden shelves next to the TV that were full of video games for said consoles.

Gavin’s jaw dropped, scanning the walls, they were dark red, large windows in the wall in front of him, showcasing the large field that was the backyard, with flowers exactly like what he saw a minute ago. Trimmed and blooming wonderfully, even what looked like a barn sat in the far right corner. The Brit’s eyes scanned across the room, noticing a set of double doors that were cracked open, a rectangle of light shining out. He slowly and silently tip-toed up to the door; he peeked into the doors, wishing to see why the light was on.

Inside was a kitchen, counters lining up one wall, two new-looking stoves sat against one wall, two ovens sat beside them, a large modern fridge, and a sink that looked like it was double the size of any sink Gavin had ever seen. The countertops were black marble, the wood of the cabinets lining the counters were dark wood to match the dark red walls of the home. Cabinets were above on the wall where the counter was, and next to the large fridge were a long line of floor-to-ceiling cabinets. The light came from the hanging lights above the island in the middle of the spacious kitchen. It was a large kitchen, looking like whoever cooked had to cook for dozens, just by the amount of cabinet space, ovens, stoves, and fridge space.

The figure pulled down the hood of the cloak, setting their basket on the top of the island. Their hair fell down, cropped short, about shoulder length, and it was brown, like the color of chocolate. The figure started to pull things out of the basket, humming softly. It was a woman, Gavin couldn’t tell the age by her back. He didn’t know if the woman knew he was watching her.

But one step into the kitchen, and the woman looked over her shoulder. Her arms stopped moving, looking directly at Gavin. The woman’s blue eyes framed by black-and white glasses suddenly locked with Gavin’s, and then a large smile crossed her face, showing off straight, white teeth.

“It worked, I knew it would work,” She started to move closer to Gavin, her voice was accented and Gavin was a little bit shocked. Distinctly Australian…A British accent was rare in Auestein… an Australian one was like finding the needle in the haystack. “Come in, come in, don’t be shy.”

This woman’s voice was full of kindness; she was now in front of Gavin and still warmly smiling at him. “You’re Gavin Free, correct?”

Gavin was shocked, but he nodded slowly, a little too shocked to speak.

“Oh thank you,” she sprung forward, wrapping her arms around Gavin suddenly. Finally, Gavin sprang into action, his tongue starting to work again.

“Thanking me for what? I just followed you here,” the Brit was confused; really, his arms were at his side, acting like they were glued there. What had he done? He just followed the unnamed woman up into the old house, following the trail of buttercups she left behind.

“Oh, it’s for the future, you’re going to be so helpful here,” her arms went away, she stepped back, her arms coming to her sides for only a few seconds before she started to move back to the wicker basket to get out whatever was inside. “I’m Caiti, Caiti Ward.”

“Nice to meet you…” Gavin walked in behind her, slowly to check the surroundings even though he only scanned the room a minute ago. He felt like someone else, or something else, was in the room, watching them. There wasn’t anything there- and it was slowly making him paranoid.

“You can come out now,” Caiti announced, glancing around the room, even out into the hall as her voice carried down the hall. Suddenly, there were footsteps. A door in the kitchen swung open, a man with a magnificent beard appeared, with three people, two men and one woman, one man and the woman were covered in tattoos and the other wasn’t had stepped out behind the bearded man. Behind Gavin, the door opened up more and appeared more people.

A man with slightly darker skin, another man with corkscrew curls, a woman with pencil-straight long red hair, a man with boyish features, and two others, both with dark hair, one was short and the other was taller.

Gavin stood there, completely confused.

“I see you got him here alright,” the man covered in tattoos crossed his arms, stepping forward, closer to Gavin to inspect him. The people that had come in formed a ring around the room, against the counters and watched Gavin. “ _Free_ \- that’s his name?” The man turned to Caiti, who nodded silently, which made the man nod.

“Geoff Ramsey,” he suddenly stuck out his hand, a look in his eye like he expected Gavin to be completely cool with whatever was going on in this house. “Already know who you are.”

Gavin was left speechless yet again, he hesitantly took Geoff’s hand, which was expertly tattooed, almost covering the entirety of both arms.

“Introductions I guess,” Geoff looked at the man with the beard. “We’re missing 3… but they’re with _Him_ right?” The ‘ _him_ ’ was pressed out, like he didn’t wish to speak the name that belonged to whoever _Him_ was.

“Sure, I’ll go next,” the bearded man nodded. “I’m Jack Pattillo, you know Caiti already… she’s my wife.” Caiti nodded, moving to stand next to her husband.

Next in line was the woman with tattoos, with piercing blue eyes and blonde hair that was short and in braided pigtails, “Griffon Ramsey, Geoff’s wife.”

Corkscrew Curls was next. “Michael Jones.”

The short man that had come in last was after Michael, “Jeremy Dooley.”

Tall guy was next, “Matt Bragg.”

The red-haired girl was a little bit farther away from Matt, but she went next. “Meg Turney.” Her voice was nice- sweet and bubbly.

The man with the skin that was a few shades darker than the rest was awfully close to Meg. “Ray Narvaez Jr.”

Next to Ray was the man with the boyish look on his face. A sweet smile- warm eyes… just a sporty, boyish look, and build. “Caleb Denecour.”

Last in line was a man right next to Jack, who coughed a bit before speaking. “Kdin Jenzen.”

It was silent for a handful of seconds, Gavin taking it all in. There was a lot of names, if he ever came back to do whatever Caiti had thanked him for and why he’d been brought up there, he’d learn the names. Gavin let out a heavy breath, almost a sigh.

“Why am I here?”

Everyone shared a look, like they were contemplating his question together in their minds. Geoff was still out of the circle, sharing a heavy look with Jack. The Brit was only slightly upset that he wasn’t getting an answer; he was more confused than upset. It was obvious in his body language, a confused look plastered on his face with his back slightly hunched over and an awkward stance.

“Do you know why this house is here?” Geoff finally speaks, his eyes refusing to meet Gavin’s, instead they were trained on the ground as he ran a hand through his inky black hair.

“Yeah… Well- no, I-I mean, I know that this place is here… but not with this many people inside… or this nice,” Gavin stuttered out an answer, his eyebrows furrowing as his confusion started to get worse and worse.

Everyone shared yet another look, it looked pained. Griffon’s lips parted, but it looked like she was unable to speak, unable to let out the words- like they were caught in her throat. Jack gave her a disapproving look, and her lips closed.

“I’m afraid we can’t tell you… Only _He_ can tell you, and he doesn’t like to be disturbed,” Caiti’s honey-coated accented voice was soft. She was leaning against Jack with a sad look on her face, exactly like everyone else. “ _He_ will have to tell you, we can’t tell you anything else…”

“Who is this ‘ _Him’_! And why am I here and not in my bed?” Gavin asked loudly, finally started to lose the awkward stance and furrowed eyebrows.

“Mr. Haywood, the owner of this home,” Kdin spoke up, or really only spoke, his voice was just as soft as Caiti’s. “You’re here for a reason, you have to believe us.”

“I don’t know if I want to,” Gavin’s voice was… _poisonous_. It was a different tone than anything the Brit had ever used. Everyone seemed to flinch barely at the same time.

“Just believe us- if we get Mr. Haywood down here he’ll talk to you and _maybe_ that fucker will understand,” Michael hissed back, head snapping up from the ground and eyes sending angry glares at Gavin. If looks could kill, Gavin would be on the ground within inches of losing his life. Ray jumped into action, turning to Michael and setting a hand on the other’s shoulder. Like the curly haired man had done to Gavin, his head snapped to the other. All they needed to do was share a look, and Michael visibly relaxed.

“It’s late, let’s all head off to bed… Gavin you may stay for the night,” Jack sighed, cueing for everyone to head off to their rooms. No one spoke, but they all started to leave, heading through the doors Gavin had entered. But the Brit didn’t leave, he only stood there confused and just as shocked as he was when he saw the buttercups.

Meg was the last one left, she stood there by the door, waiting for the last one to leave before she spoke. “Come on, I’ll show you to your room for the evening.”

Gavin just nodded, sighing in his mind before he started to follow the redhead. They would discuss this in the morning…


End file.
